You may have soreness due to the needles used for a day or two. You will experience a fairly constant sensation of stimulation in its place. If the procedure is successful, you may feel that your pain may be gone or greatly diminished. What should I expect after the procedure? The generator is implanted under the skin of your buttock or abdomen. The wires are inserted in the midline of the back. Where are the wires inserted? Where is the generator placed? X-ray (fluoroscopy) is used to guide the needle for wire placement. The skin is cleaned with antiseptic solution and then the procedure is carried out. The patients are monitored with EKG, blood pressure cuff and blood oxygen-monitoring device. It is done with the patient lying on the stomach when placing the wires as well as for the final placement of the battery. For the generator placement, patients are given stronger intravenous sedation and sometimes general anesthesia. The amount of sedation given generally depends upon the patient tolerance. This is necessary to ensure proper placement of the wires. The placement of the wires is done under local anesthesia with patients mildly sedated enough to make you comfortable. If you experience any pain during the procedure, your doctor will inject more local anesthetic as needed. After the skin is numb, the procedure needle feels like a bit of pressure at the injection site. It feels like a little pinch and then a slight burning as the local anesthetic starts numbing the skin. Each procedure can take up to 1-2 hours.Īll of our procedures begin by injecting a small amount of local anesthetic through a very small needle. If it is successful and the patient is satisfied by the degree of pain relief, the second stage involves placing the wires under the skin, tunneling the wires to the location of the battery, and placement of the battery just under the skin. During this phase, the patient engages in relatively normal activity and gauges the effectiveness of the device, if they can reduce pain medications, how well their pain is controlled, and if they can do more activity.
The wires may be left in place for up to 5-7 days. These wires are attached to an external generator which the patient controls. Through a specialized needle, one or two wires are placed in the epidural space. The first stage is the trial stage and does not involve any surgery. A spinal cord stimulator interrupts nerve conduction along certain types of nerves that predominantly carry pain signals to the brain by stimulating other types of fibres that sense vibration in the body.